Traders Bid Up Protective Puts,
Elevating Market's Fear Gauges

NEW YORK -- Options traders became more apprehensive after stocks failed to advance despite some fairly upbeat news about mergers, inventories and manufacturing activity.

Instead, with stocks slipping in overseas markets on mounting worries about terrorism, options investors bid up short-term protective puts on the major U.S. indexes, including the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.